MUSIC

Starlight Lounge
Taking the Lounge to the next level
By Katie Kramer



Channel Z-row, thuggin'.

Four years ago, Lee "Sticky" Dellapina took over the task of hosting the Starlight Lounge on 103.3FM. The weekly radio program focused strictly on the supporting the local music scene.

"My goal has always been to promote bands that promote themselves. I like to broadcast those bands doing all they can do to make it in Lexington," said Dellapina. "This is easy for me, because there is so much talent here."

After a few years, the Lounge grew, and began an offshoot event, The Starlight Lounge Live. The live show is a weekly showcase at a local club, in which three local, original bands perform. Earlier this year, the Starlight Lounge moved to 106.3FM. Although it kept its Sunday night 9pm time slot, the move damaged Starlight's ratings. That, coupled with the recent loss of such local music venues as Lynagh's music emporium, the Blue Max and others, made Dellapina think that the time had come to introduce the bands of the Starlight Lounge to a larger audience.

"I thought it was time to take it to the next level, Starlight Lounge on television" said Dellapina.

This Sunday night, November 24, will be the first broadcast of the Starlight Lounge television show on Insight Cable Channel 14. Once Dellapina decided to take the show to television, he contacted Duane Lundy of Shangri-La Productions, for the use of a recording studio.

"The big difference between the Starlight Lounge and other public access shows, is the sound quality. As the bands performed we recorded them digitally, so it sounds really good."

On the road to production, Dellapina found himself at the offices of Insight Communications, where he was introduced to Jason Epperson and Cal Reed, two local producers whose music videos will be featured on future episodes of the show.

"I was very fortunate to meet these guys" Said Dellapina "If I had to produce the show myself, it would have looked like a third rate version of Wayne's World."

With Lundy, Epperson, and Reed on board, all that was left to do was get the bands. "For the debut show we wanted to get bands that would be visually stimulating as well as audibly, and we found two that were perfect." The bands chosen for the first taping are Channel Z-row and Inner Vision Collision, two local talents with completely different sounds.

Channel Z-row was created from the trio of Groovezilla and G-Funk fame: St. J (vocals), Wendog (guitars), Chaddy Ray (drums), and the bassist of Barefoot Pimp, TeeRavuss. Combined with Jeff C for keys and samples and Bryan Fortner for a second guitar, Channel Z-row began. Their sound ranges from ethereal, industrial, dub, punk, metal, and new wave, basically anything that pleases the band at the moment.

Inner Vision Collision, aka IVC, was formed in 2000 by singer/songwriter/guitarist Lee Maranville. Drummer Shea Gold soon joined, and the band was completed with their three-piece horn section. The soulful backbone of IVC is made up of Chris Wooten on trumpet, Matt Thompson on tenor sax, and Tim Harris on alto sax. Todd Gorell, most recently joined the band after playing bass with the funky local band Juice Bomb. The music of Inner Vision Collision spans classical and progressive rock to funk blues and jazz.

The first Starlight Lounge features two songs from each band and interviews. In between band sets, a pre-produced music video is shown from another local artist. In future shows, Dellapina hopes to add local entertainment updates, film reviews, and a Starlight Lounge web site is in the works.

"The Starlight Lounge is going to be a multimedia extravaganza," said Dellapina.

The premiere party for the televised Starlight Lounge will be at A1A on Saturday, November 23. Channel Z-row and Inner Vision Collision will both play, and in between sets the premiere episode will air on large movie screens in the club.

"For now, the Starlight Lounge is a public access show, but once we create a buzz in the community, we'll try to move it to one of the local network affiliates," said Dellapina. "We're gonna put local music on the map."

Lee Dellapina is the Ace List editior.


 

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